More artificial intelligence, fewer screens: the future of computing unfolds\

Screen-free user experiences such as Amazon Echo and autonomous vehicles portend a future of computing without screens.

We are approaching the day when user interfaces and user experience (UI and UX) will mean much more than working through screens on devices. It may not involve screens at all.

That's the word from Accenture, which spells out, in a recent report, the rise of AI as the new purveyor of UI and UX. Developments such as autonomous vehicles and voice-activated home assistants are just early examples surfacing that suggest more screenless computing is on the horizon.

This has implications for the way enterprise users work, as well as customers. Already, there's plenty of talk -- and pilots -- involving the use of connected tools and wearables in the workplace that serve to augment employee tasks.

The report's authors make three predictions:

· "In five years, more than half of your customers will select your services based on your AI instead of your traditional brand."

· "In seven years, most interfaces will not have a screen and will be integrated into daily tasks."

· "In 10 years, digital assistants will be so pervasive they'll keep employees productive 24/7/365, operating in the background for workplace interactions, like creating video summaries right after an important meeting."

Accenture's findings are based on a survey of 5,400 executives across the globe. "Moving beyond a back-end tool for the enterprise, AI is taking on more sophisticated roles within technology interfaces," the report's authors state. "From autonomous driving vehicles that use computer vision, to live translations made possible by artificial neural networks, AI is making every interface both simple and smart - and setting a high bar for how future interactions will work."

In the survey, 79% of executives agree that AI will help accelerate technology adoption throughout their organizations. In addition, 85% indicate they will invest extensively in AI-related technologies over the next three years.

The Accenture authors cite a prime example of where AI is making its first inroads into enterprise UI and UX: voice-activated systems. "Advances in natural language processing and machine learning make technology more intuitive to use, like telling virtual assistants to schedule a meeting instead of accessing scheduling software to find a time, create an event,and type the details," they state. "AI already plays a variety of roles throughout the user experience. At the simplest level, it curates content for people, like the mobile app Spotify suggesting new music based on previous listening choices. In a more significant role, AI applies machine learning to guide actions toward the best outcome."

The combination of "intuitive,natural interactions and the ready availability of open source tools paves the way for big changes across the interface," the Accenture team adds.

How to get stated on this artificially intelligent, screenless journey? In an accompanying article at Tech Emergence, Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer at Accenture, describes the actions companies who want to explore AI UX applications need to take:

· "Take existing communication channels and determine how these can be made smarter -- using inspiration from other successful conversational interface or voice interface applications."

· "Look at every customer and employee interaction and ask yourself how they can be improved through AI."

· "Look at new interfaces beyond the screen and consider how new channels can enable multidimensional conversations."

iPhone (2007) Smartphones have essentially looked like glass-and-metal slabs for years now, so it's easy to forget how distinct the original iPhone looked. Remember, 2007 was the year the BlackBerry Curve debuted to rave reviews, and people were thrilled about the dual-sliding powerhouse that was Nokia's N95. Suffice to say, the iPhone was nothing like them. It was a device with a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, a rounded aluminum body, a plastic butt and very few actual buttons to speak of. At the time, you could pick up a model with either 4GB or 8GB of internal storage for $499 and $599, respectively. Considering most phones in the US were sold on-contract, the iPhone was much more expensive than its competitors, and Apple later tried to address this by dropping the 4GB model altogether and making the 8GB model $399.

Apple's engineering prowess meant the phone was as well-built a smartphone as you could get at the time, and that aesthetic would soon drive other OEMs to embrace multi-touch displays. Still, some of the original iPhone's design and engineering features were pretty questionable. Remember the recessed headphone jack? The one that required people to use an adapter with existing headphones they liked, or use the lousy pack-in earbuds? Yeah, not great. What's more, the cellular radio inside the phone only supported Cingular's EDGE data network, and not its newer, faster 3G network. Steve Jobs defended the decision by claiming that those early 3G-capable chipsets were bigger, with a tendency to drain a phone's battery.

Where the iPhone really shined was its software. Even in its infancy, iOS felt remarkably different from any other smartphone OS. Its early, WebKit-based browser was a joy to use compared to the alternatives found on other devices, and the way the phone allowed for multi-touch gestures effectively changed the way people expected to interact with their smartphones. That's not to say the software was perfect: It couldn't connect to most corporate email servers, which meant business users got burned. And that seemingly lovely virtual keyboard? You had to make sure you didn't accidentally type too fast because it could only recognize one finger tap at a time. The iPhone didn't have the ability to send rich MMS messages either, so sending pictures to friends only ever worked through email, or unofficial apps available to jailbroken iPhones.

The original iPhone remains an icon in the annals of computing history, but there was much more to come.

iPhone 3G (2008) After the first iPhone launched, Apple pursued progress on two fronts: It had to build a second-gen phone, and also make sure people could get more done with it. In March 2008, nine months after the first iPhone went on sale, Apple released a software development kit, while a prominent Silicon Valley VC firm announced a $100 million fund to help spur iPhone software development. Four months after that, the iPhone 3G debutedwith iOS 2.0 and the App Store, which only contained around 500 apps at launch. While users were pleased with the prospect of squeezing new features out of their new phones, one of the most notable changes about this new phone was how it looked.

With the 3G, Apple ditched its original, mostly aluminum chassis in favor of glossy polycarbonate. The 3G was available in black and white, and both versions could be had with either 8GB or 16GB of storage. While that change in materials was meant to improve signal strength and reception, the polycarbonate shells were prone to cracking, particularly around the 30-pin dock connector. The iPhone 3G's modified curvature was more comfortable to hold, but it also meant all those docks that came with the original iPhone were essentially junk. Otherwise, the phone's key features, including its screen and camera, remained the same.

Apple gave the phone its name for a reason, though: The addition of a 3G radio meant AT&T customers could finally use the carrier's higher-speed data network. This paved the way for snappier browsing, not to mention the ability to talk and browse at the same time. The 3G also included a GPS radio, though it was still fairly limited; while it could locate you with help from a cell tower triangulation scheme, it would be a while before the first apps with true turn-by-turn navigation appeared.

Although Apple and its carrier partner sold the original iPhones at full price, the 3G was the first to be sold with contract subsidies — remember the days when signing two years of your life away meant hefty discounts? In this case, the 8GB 3G sold for $199 and the 16GB model went for $299, both dramatic drops that helped spur mass iPhone adoption.

iPhone (2007) Smartphones have essentially looked like glass-and-metal slabs for years now, so it's easy to forget how distinct the original iPhone looked. Remember, 2007 was the year the BlackBerry Curve debuted to rave reviews, and people were thrilled about the dual-sliding powerhouse that was Nokia's N95. Suffice to say, the iPhone was nothing like them. It was a device with a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, a rounded aluminum body, a plastic butt and very few actual buttons to speak of. At the time, you could pick up a model with either 4GB or 8GB of internal storage for $499 and $599, respectively. Considering most phones in the US were sold on-contract, the iPhone was much more expensive than its competitors, and Apple later tried to address this by dropping the 4GB model altogether and making the 8GB model $399.

Apple's engineering prowess meant the phone was as well-built a smartphone as you could get at the time, and that aesthetic would soon drive other OEMs to embrace multi-touch displays. Still, some of the original iPhone's design and engineering features were pretty questionable. Remember the recessed headphone jack? The one that required people to use an adapter with existing headphones they liked, or use the lousy pack-in earbuds? Yeah, not great. What's more, the cellular radio inside the phone only supported Cingular's EDGE data network, and not its newer, faster 3G network. Steve Jobs defended the decision by claiming that those early 3G-capable chipsets were bigger, with a tendency to drain a phone's battery.

Where the iPhone really shined was its software. Even in its infancy, iOS felt remarkably different from any other smartphone OS. Its early, WebKit-based browser was a joy to use compared to the alternatives found on other devices, and the way the phone allowed for multi-touch gestures effectively changed the way people expected to interact with their smartphones. That's not to say the software was perfect: It couldn't connect to most corporate email servers, which meant business users got burned. And that seemingly lovely virtual keyboard? You had to make sure you didn't accidentally type too fast because it could only recognize one finger tap at a time. The iPhone didn't have the ability to send rich MMS messages either, so sending pictures to friends only ever worked through email, or unofficial apps available to jailbroken iPhones.

The original iPhone remains an icon in the annals of computing history, but there was much more to come.

iPhone 3G (2008) After the first iPhone launched, Apple pursued progress on two fronts: It had to build a second-gen phone, and also make sure people could get more done with it. In March 2008, nine months after the first iPhone went on sale, Apple released a software development kit, while a prominent Silicon Valley VC firm announced a $100 million fund to help spur iPhone software development. Four months after that, the iPhone 3G debutedwith iOS 2.0 and the App Store, which only contained around 500 apps at launch. While users were pleased with the prospect of squeezing new features out of their new phones, one of the most notable changes about this new phone was how it looked.

With the 3G, Apple ditched its original, mostly aluminum chassis in favor of glossy polycarbonate. The 3G was available in black and white, and both versions could be had with either 8GB or 16GB of storage. While that change in materials was meant to improve signal strength and reception, the polycarbonate shells were prone to cracking, particularly around the 30-pin dock connector. The iPhone 3G's modified curvature was more comfortable to hold, but it also meant all those docks that came with the original iPhone were essentially junk. Otherwise, the phone's key features, including its screen and camera, remained the same.

Apple gave the phone its name for a reason, though: The addition of a 3G radio meant AT&T customers could finally use the carrier's higher-speed data network. This paved the way for snappier browsing, not to mention the ability to talk and browse at the same time. The 3G also included a GPS radio, though it was still fairly limited; while it could locate you with help from a cell tower triangulation scheme, it would be a while before the first apps with true turn-by-turn navigation appeared.

Although Apple and its carrier partner sold the original iPhones at full price, the 3G was the first to be sold with contract subsidies — remember the days when signing two years of your life away meant hefty discounts? In this case, the 8GB 3G sold for $199 and the 16GB model went for $299, both dramatic drops that helped spur mass iPhone adoption.

iPhone 4 (2010) While the iPhone 3GS was busy racking up sales, Apple was working on a radical iPhone redesign behind closed doors. Then some guy lost a prototype in a bar, and the internet exploded as the leak of a lifetime gave us our first look at Apple's vision. Up until 2010, iPhones were known for their contoured plastic shells, but no more. The iPhone 4 was covered with flat glass on both the front and back, separated by a stainless steel band that ran around the phone and acted as its antenna. The aesthetic was a stunning departure from earlier iPhones, but Apple's design had a serious flaw: Holding the phone just right ( or wrong) would cause cellular coverage to plummet. Welcome to Antennagate.

Apple remedied the issue by offering free bumpers and cases to iPhone 4 owners, but critics had a field day with the company's massive blunder. Though Antennagate's cultural pervasiveness was difficult to avoid ("you're holding it wrong" became a catchphrase unto itself) the iPhone 4 still offered several major improvements to the long-standing iPhone formula. In fact, the most important was impossible to miss: Though Steve Jobs might have overstated exactly how crisp it was, the iPhone 4's 960 x 540 Retina display was essentially unmatched in clarity. It didn't just blow away older iPhones, the screen blew away all other phones, period.

To this point, iPhones never had particularly great cameras, but the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel rear shooter was the best Apple had made to date (it helped that our prayers for a LED flash were answered). Apple also saw fit to include the iPhone's first front-facing camera, a must for vain selfies and the new FaceTime feature built into iOS 4.

The new A4 chipset (the first mobile processor Apple designed itself) with 512MB of RAM was another huge step over its predecessor, and this jump in performance was absolutely necessary. The launch of iOS 4 also meant the introduction of true multitasking on an iPhone; even after all these years, it's still surprising that it took Apple as long as it did to cook up a solution that worked. A quick double-tap of the home button would bring up your running apps, and that was that. The updated iOS also added folders for better app management and finally let people leave audio running the background while they used other apps. While the iPhone 4 was the most powerful smartphone Apple had built up to that date, it almost paradoxically had better battery life than before thanks to a more capacious cell stuck inside.

Other new inclusions were more subtle, like a second microphone for improved noise cancellation and a gyroscope that allowed for (among other things) more precise motion controls in games and apps. Apple stuck with the standard 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage variants, and they only came in black at first; it took time for Apple to ensure the white finish offered enough UV protection, so white iPhone 4s weren't available until April 2011. Color choices may have been limited, but at least carrier choice wasn't. After years of AT&T exclusivity, the 4 was the first iPhone available on a carrier other than AT&T -- in this case, Verizon.

iPhone 4S (2011) Apple's press fete for the iPhone 4S was unlike any other -- for one, it was the first hosted by then-new CEO Tim Cook, a supply chain whiz picked by Jobs to take over. (Jobs, sadly, died the day after the announcement.) It was also one of the first iPhone announcements that really seemed to disappoint some, thanks to endless rumors about a thinner, redesigned iPhone 5 coming in 2011. While that sleeker, slimmer iPhone was still a year off, the iPhone 4S offered up plenty of helpful and notable updates.

The iPhone 4's A4 chipset gave way to the dual-core A5 (first used in the iPad 2), which kept the same 512MB of RAM but still made for a nearly two-fold improvement in general performance. Meanwhile, the rear camera was bumped to eight megapixels and gained the ability to record 1080p video. To help store those larger files, Apple introduced a new 64GB storage tier alongside the standard 16GB and 32GB options. And while Apple recycled the iPhone 4's design, it used the CDMA version of the device as a template for the 4S; its improved antenna setup eliminated lingering Antennagate concerns.

The iPhone 4S launched with iOS 5 on board, making it the first new iPhone to pack support for Apple's new iCloud storage system and iMessage's now-ubiquitous blue bubbles. We can't talk about the 4S without talking about Siri, though. Originally a voice assistant app spun out from research at SRI International, Siri came to the iPhone 4S by way of a multimillion dollar acquisition before its creators could build versions of the app for rival platforms. At launch, users could ask it to make calls, create reminders, interact with calendars and more, all with conversational language instead of specific commands. Siri felt novel and capable in ways other apps at the time didn't, but it would take time before Apple's first digital assistant became more than just an interesting gimmick.

iPhone 5 (2012) When the iPhone 5 was revealed in 2012, people got the design overhaul they were waiting for. Apple traded stainless steel for aluminum and shaved nearly two millimeters off the existing iPhone 4S design. The end result: the thinnest, sleekest and arguably most beautiful iPhone to date. More importantly, Apple finally saw fit to pack a taller, 4-inch Retina display into the iPhone 5, a move meant to counter the rapidly growing screens found in popular Android devices. Building a bigger, thinner iPhone came at a cost, though: Apple ditched its classic, 30-pin connector in favor of the reversible Lightning connector. The decision meant generations of existing iPhone docks and accessories became obsolete almost instantly, but the world eventually moved on.

Also new to the iPhone 5 was Apple's dual-core A6 chipset and 1GB of RAM -- double the amount of memory found in the iPhone 4 and 4S. As usual, the new phone generally exhibited performance that was around twice as fast as the previous model, and in certain benchmarks, we saw even bigger performance gains. The iPhone 5's camera didn't change dramatically along the way, but its 8-megapixel sensor was swathed in sapphire crystal rather than glass for extra protection. Thanks to the A6's increased horsepower, the camera was noticeably quicker too -- photo capture speeds were faster than in earlier iPhones. And speaking of speed, Apple built an LTE radio into the iPhone 5, making it the first to support the next generation of high-speed wireless data networks.

The iPhone 5 was a big step forward in terms of design, but changes on the software side weren't as dramatic. iOS 6 officially went live just days before the iPhone 5 went on sale, making the 5 the first new iPhone to support digital tickets in Passbook and the new, oft-maligned Apple Maps. A handy Do Not Disturb mode was also added to the fold, as well as the ability to make FaceTime calls over cellular connections and native Facebook integration. All told, it felt like Apple was going back and ticking software feature requests off a checklist, but that makes sense -- the company was working on a big redesign behind the scenes.

iPhone 5s (2013) As usual, Apple largely left the iPhone 5's design alone when it built the iPhone 5s in 2013. Its home button looked a little different though — it lost the trademark squircle and gained a shiny metal ring instead. That signified the inclusion of Touch ID, Apple's first fingerprint sensor, for unlocking the phone and authenticating iTunes purchases. Oh, and it was hard to miss the new gold and slate gray color options, the first changes to Apple's hardware palette since white iPhones hit the scene years earlier.

The rest of the 5s's hardware changes are harder to see: The faster A7 chipset inside was the first 64-bit sliver of silicon in an Apple smartphone, and next to it was a new motion coprocessor called the M7 to help manage data from the phone's myriad sensors. The 8-megapixel camera was updated with larger pixels and a larger aperture, too, though people were more likely to notice how the camera could record video slow-motion footage at up to 120 frames per second.

The iPhone 5s's software, meanwhile, looked hardly anything like the versions that came before it. iOS 7 traded Apple's classic skeuomorphic design elements for a flatter, cleaner aesthetic that persists to this day. Beyond that, iOS 7 saw the addition quick settings shortcuts in the Control Center, as well as a revamped Notification Center and AirDrop for rapidly off-loading files from iOS devices.

When Apple launched the iPhone 5c alongside the 5s, it effectively drove a nail into the iPhone 5's coffin. Reports suggested that Apple whipped up this model to keep costs down -- the colorful polycarbonate bodies were less expensive to manufacture at scale than carefully chamfered aluminum.

Aside from this major cosmetic change, the 5c is essentially the same phone as the standard 5, from the A6 chipset to the screen. The camera assembly was tweaked somewhat and the 5c supported more LTE bands, but the real reasons to own this phone were its modest price tag and its five color options. Popular perception of the 5c was that it was a flop, but it went on to sell more than 24 million units in its time on the market. It wasn't quite the loser people expected, and it's not hard to see how the 5c influenced devices like the iPhone SE.

iPhone 6/Plus (2014) Beset by the popularity of big Android phones, Apple launched two new, larger iPhones in September 2014: the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The former featured a 4.7-inch display with a 1,334 x 750 resolution, while the super-sized Plus model instead used a 5.5-inch screen running at 1080p. Apple aficionados had long suspected the company would split its most important product line up like this, and many welcomed the seemingly overdue change. Unsurprisingly, the smaller of the two iPhones was easier to hold and use for long periods of time -- the larger Plus model could be difficult to grip compared to its big-screened contemporaries.

The design modifications didn't end there, either. If the iPhone 5-series looked like sleek slabs, the 6 and 6 Plus were rounder and friendlier in a way that evoked Apple's first phones. Since both devices were notably longer than the iPhones that came before them, Apple moved the power button to the devices' right edges for easier access and trimmed a few fractions of a millimeter to make both versions of the iPhone 6 slimmer than the iPhone 5s. Apple's focus on crafting trim bodies took its toll, though: Both versions of the phone were supposedly susceptible to bending under pressure. Apple only received a handful of reports about bent units in the wild, but no matter: Bendgate became a thing regardless.

Inside, both devices were nearly identical. Each sported improved A8 chipsets and 1GB of RAM, and Apple chose this year to drop the 32GB storage option in favor of a more spacious mid-range choice. While the most basic iPhone 6 and 6 Plus still came with 16GB of storage, customers could step into 64GB and 128GB for $100 and $200 extra, respectively. Naturally, both phones shipped with iOS 8, which added third-party keyboard support, cross-platform features like Continuity and a handful of new health-focused features. With so much crossover when it came to performance and software, most would-be iPhone owners made their choice based on size.

Of course, that isn't to say that size is the only area where these phones differed. Both phones packed updated 8-megapixel rear cameras, but only the Plus's shooter came with optical image stabilization (another first for iPhones). And while both phones used what Apple called "Retina HD" displays, the higher pixel density found on the bigger display meant text and images appeared crisper.

iPhone 6s/Plus (2015) By the time the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus rolled around in 2015, Apple's tick-tock update cadence was well understood. It was no surprise, then, that both would use the improved A9 chipset with 2GB of RAM and look exactly like the models that came before them. Thankfully, Apple didn't just carry over the original iPhone 6 and 6 Plus bodies — the 6s and 6s Plus were reinforced to prevent the possibility of bending under pressure (it definitely didn't need another Bendgate-level debacle to deal with). This was also the year Apple added rose gold to its list of standard phone finishes, and we haven't been able to escape it since.

Apple also ditched its stockpile of 8-megapixel sensors and instead built 12-megapixel cameras into the 6s and 6s Plus. The added resolution was a welcome touch, and so was the ability to record video in 4K — after all, Android phones had been able to shoot at this super-high quality for some time. Also new to the photographic fold: Live Photos, which sprung to life as you swiped through your camera roll. The marquee feature this time was 3D Touch, which took advantage of the 6s's new pressure-sensitive screens to offer users shortcuts and context with a forceful press. In its early days, the feature didn't always feel that useful, but seeing a company implement a novel new way for us to interact with our smartphones without too many hiccups was impressive nonetheless.

As was often the case with S-series iPhones, software provided much of the excitement. The 6s and 6s Plus shipped with iOS 9 onboard, and with it came a smarter, more contextually aware version of Siri and a whole new portal for Apple's News. Search was dramatically improved too, as it could peer directly into apps installed on the 6s and 6s Plus, and Apple's Maps finally started to understand how the subway worked. While the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were huge sellers, the 6s and 6s Plus were proof that biennial refreshes didn't need to be dull.

Apple faced a bit of a conundrum after launching two bigger smartphones — what would it do for people who still liked compact devices? The answer was straightforward: The company essentially took the guts of the iPhone 6s and squeezed them into an iPhone 5s's body.

That didn't sound like it would work very well, but to our surprise, the iPhone SE was a remarkably capable little machine for small phone fans. The A9 provided excellent performance, and battery life was generally impressive, but our biggest gripe had to do with the limited storage options available at launch. Originally, Apple produced the SEs with either 16 or 64GB of internal storage; It has since shifted to selling 32GB and 128GB models instead.

iPhone 7/Plus (2016) Well, this was unexpected. Up until 2016, Apple had only ever kept the same design for two generations of smartphones. With the launch of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Apple once again kept the iPhone 6's design language alive, albeit with several few tweaks.

Where to start? Well, neither version of the 7 featured a headphone jack, a move Apple's Phil Schiller hilariously chalked up to "courage" during the company's press conference. The physical home button was also replaced with a capacitive button that haptically vibrated when pressed. IP67 water and dust resistance was added, too -- a first for iPhones, though Android devices had touted superior water resistance for years. Oh, and Apple added a Product (RED) model and a glossy, Jet Black finish option to its roster. That's a lot of updates, and that doesn't even factor in the changes in performance. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus used Apple's A10 Fusion chipset, a quad-core affair paired with either 2 or 3GB of RAM.

As always, the 7 and 7 Plus were more alike than not, and the most notable difference between the two was in their cameras. The 7 got a perfectly respectable 12-megapixel rear camera with a quad-LED flash and optical image stabilization — quite an upgrade over the prior year's shooter. The 7 Plus, meanwhile, was fitted with a more impressive dual-camera array that allowed users to optically zoom in and out and add bokeh to the background of a photo in a Portrait Mode released later. This, along with a bigger battery and the inclusion of a little extra RAM, made the larger iPhone a more compelling option than it had ever been before.

Gee, the new merging with the old. We've all seen that before. I guess this time they aren't buying each other out though. No matter how it gets done, it's consolidation of interest for the sake of share within a marginally growing pie. Along with this kind of growth comes all sorts of other challenges which are likely unwanted.

When Apple holds its big event on Tuesday, it won't just be unveiling the iPhone 8, it's going to kick off another wave of announcements from the tech giants. Only this time, what the big companies will be promoting won't be their conceptions for the industry's future. It'll be the products you'll actually be able to buy this holiday season.

That transition from vision to tangible products is the first step in the master game plan of supplanting the smartphone with the next great technology platform. It'll still be a decade or more before that changeover is complete, at least if you believe Mark Zuckerberg. But we're slowly —one new Apple, Google, or Microsoft gadget at a time — building up to a future without screens, keyboards, or, indeed, the smartphone itself

Apple At its event Tuesday, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 8, the 10th anniversary edition of the gadget that triggered the smartphone boom. The device will represent a refresh of the iPhone's hardware; you should expect it to have a screen that covers the entire front of the phone, minus a "notch" for its camera. But more importantly, the iPhone 8 will mark Apple's first big step into the world of augmented reality.

Augmented reality is the technology that projects digital imagery into users' field of vision. It's delivered through special eyeglasses or headgear. In the future, you may access it via customized contact lenses.

Most tech industry experts assume such AR devices will eventually replace the smartphone. After all, why carry a phone if you can view your text messages, edit spreadsheets, and watch Netflix through your glasses or contact lenses?

The impending shift to augmented reality devices gives Apple almost a perverse incentive to kill the iPhone itself. Apple benefitted greatly from helping drive the tech industry's move from the PC to the smartphone, much to the chagrin of Microsoft, which ruled the PC era. It's in Apple's best interests to drive the coming transition away from smartphones to augmented reality before any upstart can slide in and turn the iPhone maker into the next Microsoft.

Apple appears to be trying to do just that. It recently launched ARkit, a set of software tools that allow developers to tap into the iPhone's camera and sensors to build augmented reality apps.

In the near term, Apple hopes ARkit will be a boon for its smartphones, and you can expect the company to heavily promote the iPhone 8's augmented reality features. CEO Tim Cook has saidthat with augmented reality, the iPhone will be "even more essential than it currently is."

When Apple launched the iPad, consumers could, from day one, download thousands of apps for it, because it could run the same ones that were designed for the iPhone, which had hit the market three years earlier. In much the same way, whenever Apple releases its smart glasses, buyers will likely be able to download lots of AR apps for them — they'll be the same ones that developers are creating with ARkit today.

But augmented reality isn't the only new post-smartphone technology or device Apple's likely to talk about on Tuesday. The company also will likely share more details on the HomePod, its new Siri-powered smart speaker, which will compete with Amazon's Echo devices and Google Home.

Google This October, several weeks after Apple's event, Google is expected to launch the Pixel 2, its new flagship Android smartphone and the follow-up to last year's original Pixel. What will be interesting to see is if Google uses the event to talk about augmented reality.

Just recently, the company released ARcore, an augmented reality system for Android that works much like Apple's ARkit, letting developers build new apps that use the phone's camera in cool new ways. The difference is unlike Apple, whose smart glasses are still in development, Google already has some in the market in the form of the revitalized Google Glass. That could give it some momentum.

Augmented reality is arguably as important to Google as it is to Apple. As the dominant maker of smartphone operating systems, Google has a lot to lose if people start to spend more time on augmented reality devices rather than on smartphones, especially if those new devices run another company's software.

But whether or not Google reveals more of its hand in the area of augmented reality, it is likely to talk soon about digital assistants and smart speakers.

As the early success of Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo gadgets has shown, there's potentially a big market for technology that lets users ask questions and get answers without having to use a screen. At first blush, the market should be a natural one for Google. Answering questions is literally why it exists, and the thing it does better than any other company. And, indeed, Google showed last year that it was focused on the market when it released its Google Home smart speaker.

Now the company is reportedly preparing a tiny version of Google Home. Not only would the new gadget likely be better positioned than the original to compete with Amazon's best-selling and hockey puck-sized Echo Dot, it would speak to the importance to the company of its Google Assistant, the search giant's Siri-style smart agent.

But like augmented reality, smart speakers and digital assistants represent a threat to the company. It hasn't figured out how to extend its core ad business — the thing that brings in the vast majority of its revenue — to voice-based devices and interfaces.

Still, you should expect Google to keep pushing in the voice assistant market until it has significant share.

Microsoft Every October for the last few years, Microsoft has announced new Surface computers. It's expected to do so again this year, though what exactly it will announce is still up for debate.

But we do know the company's bigger-picture strategy — if augmented reality is going to be the next big thing, Microsoft wants Windows to power it. The company doesn't want to miss out, like it did with mobile.

Microsoft staked its claim in augmented reality before the technology was cool with its HoloLens headset. Announced in early 2015 and launched with a $3,000 price tag in the middle of last year, HoloLens beat its rivals to the punch.

Now, though, Apple and Google are threatening to battle back. And so, Microsoft is going on the offensive, albeit not in augmented reality, but in a related area. The company is partnering with PC manufacturers including Dell and Asus to release virtual reality headsets for Windows at a prices as low as $300. And the software giant has struck deals with Valve and other companies to provide VR content.

The party line at Microsoft is that virtual and augmented reality are closely linked. Success in one area will lead to success in the other.

Getting back to the anticipated Surface announcement, you can expect Microsoft, when it unveils its new Surface hardware, to also tout VR on Windows.

As for voice, Microsoft is trying to build a niche for its Cortana agent as the AI system of choice for professionals on the go. You can expect to hear more from the company about how it's connecting Cortana with Amazon's Alexa. That's a tie-up that should have Google and Apple worried.

The wild card Amazon doesn't really throw parties for itself, and isn't generally a fan of letting its plans be known in advance. But we can make some educated guess about at least one product.

For the last few weeks, the company has been offering its Echo smart speaker, which normally sells for $179, for $99 or less. That could indicate that a new version is on the way.

The whole market is keeping a close eye on Amazon, Echo, and Alexa. Because Amazon doesn't have a widely used consumer computing platform to defend, the retailer has been free to go nuts in the smart speakers and digital assistant area. So far this year, Amazon has released an Alexa-powered fashion camera and an Alexa-powered touchscreen tablet with few other controls. And numerous companies have announced that they'll be building Alexa into their products, from other smart speakers to refrigerators to cars.

Amazon's hardware business doesn't operate at the same scale as Apple's or Microsoft's, but its Echo devices are a modest success in their own right. In the race to kill the smartphone, Amazon may not be the company in the lead, but it's certainly the one to watch.

YOU LOOK AT your phone too much. It's too distracting, you'd rather be able to be present and in the world, but you still need to be connected. That’s what makes the initial theory behind the Apple Watch so compelling: It’s a device on your wrist that can do everything in a pinch, but mostly exists to look nice and only alert you when you really need to be alerted. It's the gadget everyone could use.

Over the past couple of years, though, fitness emerged as the most resonant feature of the Watch. And Apple leaned into it: It made a big partnership with Nike, started working on connecting your Watch to your gym equipment, and improved the way it tracks workouts. Apple's also working on more health-focused features such as sleep tracking and glucose monitoring.

Today, Apple announced the third version of the Apple Watch hardware, called Watch Series 3, which comes with a handful of upgrades but only one that matters: The Watch can now connect to LTE. That has huge fitness implications for runners who hate armbands but need to make phone calls, or people who go a little too hard and need an Uber home. It also goes a long way toward helping the Apple Watch achieve its ultimate and truest goal: to free you from your phone. It starts at $329 without cellular coverage or $399 with, and it's coming September 22.

The Watch looks the same as always, so this is your moment to be sad it's not round. It's even nearly the same size—Apple's Jeff Williams called it "two pieces of paper thicker"—and packs the same battery life. The only difference you'll really notice is a red dot on the Watch's crown, which used to signify that you were wearing one of the super-expensive Edition models but now stands for LTE. On the screen you'll see a four-dot status bar for service on your watch face and an icon in Settings for turning LTE on and off. Mostly you'll just notice that you can, you know, do stuff when you're not near your phone.

There's a new dual-core processor inside the Watch, which Apple says is 70 percent faster than the last model. It also uses the new W2 chip for wireless, which Apple uses to keep connection good and battery usage low, plus an altimeter for the snowboarders and skydivers out there. (There was at least one in the room during the event, who woo'd pretty loudly at the announcement.)

The Watch's new software, WatchOS 4, has been in developers' hands since June. It adds a number of new watch faces, including a Siri-based one that promises a constant feed of useful information. (Also, Toy Story watchfaces.) Apple redesigned the Watch's dock and complications, part of its ongoing effort to figure out how a smartwatch should actually work. And as always, it focused on fitness, adding better tracking and more notifications to close those three rings every day. Your Watch will now have your heart-rate information much more centrally located.

Of all the Apple Watch's features and upgrades, Siri's the most likely to benefit from built-in LTE. You won't really want to type or chat too much on your watch, but asking quick questions or jotting down notes while you're away from your phone sounds amazing. You're not replacing your phone with a smartwatch so much as replacing it with Siri. Pair the Watch with some AirPods and the new Apple Music streaming setup on the Watch, and you're closer to Her than anything you've tried yet.

The market for initial public offerings is shaky. So says the new head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, and the president of the New York Stock Exchange, Tom Farley, who point to burdensome regulations as a big part of the problem. The decline in new listings has been fingered as a key reason the total number of public companies in the U.S. shrank from more than 8,000 in 1996 to about 4,400 in 2016. Does fewer companies going public mean there’s something fundamentally broken in the IPO process? Not necessarily.

1. Why are fewer companies going public? Many companies can find capital privately, allowing them to avoid the red tape that comes with a stock listing. A prime example is the technology industry, which has more than 200 closely held companies with valuations higher than $1 billion, according to CB Insights. Take Airbnb Inc.: The nine-year-old home-booking company has raised about $3.4 billion in private funding rounds and is valued at $31 billion (what investors are willing to pay for a share in the latest private stock sale, times the number of existing shares). Airbnb has expanded into new markets and dealt with regulatory issues away from the daily scrutiny of public market investors, unlike, say, Google (now Alphabet), Apple and Amazon.com, which held IPOs within six years of their founding.

2. Where does the private funding come from? Nowadays, all over. Old-school private funding players like venture capital firms have been joined by mutual funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms. These parties have piled money into private companies, trying to get a piece of the next big business before an IPO. Throw in new players, like SoftBank Group Corp.’s almost $100 billion Vision Fund, which has stakes in private technology and biotech firms, and many younger businesses have been able to find cash when they need it.

3. How has this changed the IPO market? The number of annual U.S. IPOs has declined, but the deal sizes are bigger. Because companies are waiting longer to go public, they’re typically larger and more mature when they finally do. From 2007 to 2016, there was an average of 164 corporate IPOs each year, down 47 percent from the prior decade. But the average amount of stock sold climbed 82 percent to $284 million. Still, some of the most notable IPO holdouts, like Airbnb or the $69 billion Uber Technologies Inc., are among the country’s most valuable companies, based on their valuations gleaned from private funding rounds.

4. Is it really such a hassle to be a public company? It does bring new responsibilities. Your company is judged on a daily basis through its stock price, and management must file quarterly financial reports and additional incremental disclosures. These checks were designed to provide information to public investors on things that can affect the company’s performance. Some new companies faced a tough time once out in the market. Snap Inc. and Blue Apron Holdings Inc., two tech darlings, went public in 2017, only to have their stocks fall below their last private market value. That’s put a chill on both public and private share sales.

5. Can anything be done to boost IPOs? At the NYSE, which makes money when companies list, Farley says that the cumbersome listing process and financial regulations dissuade companies from going public. He’s bemoaned rules including the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which regulates how companies divulge their finances. Meanwhile, the SEC recently extended to all companies, regardless of size, a rule that allows them to file confidential IPO documents. The intent is to make the listings process more efficient by allowing companies to start the filings process without publicly divulging potentially sensitive information.

6. If there’s no IPO, how can employees cash out? This has become a hot question over the past few years. As companies stay private longer, employees with private stock haven’t been able to collect the cash reward they feel they’ve earned for their hard work. Private companies have begun to use secondary offerings, where investors can buy shares from employees and other existing holders in private transactions, usually at the same time as a new funding round.

7. Are individual investors losing out? Potentially. It’s difficult for many individual investors to get in on private share sales. That means the longer these companies delay going public, the more these investors miss out on early-stage growth. Getting in a younger company is inherently riskier, but the few winners usually reward investors with big returns.

8. Did fewer IPOs really cause the drop in total companies? Not necessarily. EY says the smaller number of public companies now can be attributed to the influx of dot-com listings beginning in the mid-1990s, since many of those companies eventually failed and delisted. Three-quarters of the decline in total companies took place between 1996 -- the height of the tech bubble -- and 2003. Almost 2,800 public companies disappeared in that period because of mergers and acquisitions or delistings, a May report from EY said. The accounting firm added that if policy makers are aiming to generate capital formation, job creation and economic growth, it may not matter much whether the money is raised publicly or privately.

In 2007, I had a chunky feature phone with a pixelated display that slid sideways to reveal a keyboard. It wasn’t pretty, but it was fine for texting and making calls—which, at the time, was all I ever did with my phone.

Then the iPhone was released, and everything changed. Suddenly, we all expected so much more from our handsets; they weren’t just phones, but smartphones. Sure, there were already BlackBerrys and Palm Treos and an assortment of other handsets that were bigger and more capable than a flip phone, but they were not that easy to use and there wasn’t all that much you could do with them. There was nothing on the market even close to the iPhone in terms of its display, touchscreen, user experience, and—perhaps most importantly—wow factor. The iPhone (coupled with the App Store, which came a year later in 2008), didn’t just redefine a category; it created it.

It’s been 10 years since then and the mobile industry has changed drastically. These days, most of us have smartphones, they almost always seem to be black or silver, and we use them for everything from finding a date to paying for lunch. Most of these phones (85 percent, according to data from tech market researcher IDC) run on Google’s rival Android OS, while Apple’s iOS and iPhone takes up nearly all of the rest of market.

Android devices can find what we're searching for within seconds. Google appears to have the most advanced AI. Type in the word apple and you have pictures of apples. Text, voice, image, (Google can find images similar to what you have) and facial recognition are becoming commonplace. Translations from metric to inches, Celsius to Fahrenheit or English to Spanish are also easily done mostly from the location bar (or by voice).

You can use a display or simply listen for an answer to a query. AI is bigger than the Internet and may make the Internet obsolete.

Investors would be wise to get in at the ground level and CEOs who haven't put money into AI are worthless. Their companies will become extinct as fast as Blockbuster. No more stock buybacks.

All these companies put far too much money into creating keyboards for easy texting but texting is a waste of time. Why text when it's far easier and more efficient to call? I don't need a $1000 phone to make a phone call but it has to be able to display what I want using my voice (forget fingerprints and facial recognition).

The problem isn't only IPOs. There are a lot of other problems and they're all trending in the same direction.

The average time a company is in the S&P 500 is 14-years, down from decades a few decades ago. This means that CEOs and investors have a very short window to make money before a company falls off the S&P.

There are also far fewer retail investors with most estimates putting the number around 10%. Machines have taken over most of the market and control everything. Without investors demanding better CEOs etc. bad CEOs keep their jobs far too long and quickly cause companies to collapse.